Over and over during his testimony Monday before the General Assembly’s Education Committee, Department of Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan insisted on correcting anyone who referred to the closure of J.M. Wright Technical School as, well, a “closure.”
“It’s not a closure,” McQuillan said. “It’s a suspension.”
The frequency of his assertion bordered on comical, although it’s nothing new to reporters who have been covering Wright Tech.
The school is vacant, staff either retired or transferred, students attending other educational institutions, equipment in storage or in use elsewhere.
“If you say it’s not closed, when’s it opening?” Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, asked.
McQuillan said he hoped a renovated and revitalized Wright Tech would be designed by a newly convened committee and open for students in 2014 “if not sooner.”
Of course that’s three years later than the 2011 date school officials had been using when they first announced Wright Tech was being clo … er … suspended for two years late last July, one month before opening day.
And in order to open, the state will have to be willing to invest tens-of-millions of dollars in renovations and annual operating costs.
Connecticut is in the middle of a budget crisis, which is why Wright Tech was clo … sorry … suspended in the first place.
And McQuillan and other school officials made it clear to legislators yesterday that the other 19 vocational technical schools are sorely under funded.
As a result of budget cuts and early retirements, the system is down 67 positions.
And at a time when state lawmakers are considering requiring seatbelts on school buses for safety, the vocational technical buses are falling apart, according to yesterday’s testimony.
So given those circumstances it is understandable that, no matter how often state school officials insist operations at Wright Tech were only suspended because it suggests the facility has a future, others just see a closed building competing with 19 other open buildings for precious resources.
Perhaps School Board Chairman Allan Taylor, I’m sure unintentionally, best summarized the absurdity of the “we didn’t really close it” argument in an e-mail last July that was part of an internal debate over how to explain what was happening at Wright Tech.
“We haven’t decided to close the school,” Taylor wrote. “We just decided that if the budget required, the school should be closed.”
Exactly.
I’m glad to see that somebody asked the tough questions that don’t get answered.
I think if the state government wanted to find out the impact that the CTSS is having on our economy. All they would have to do is ask the public “How many graduates from the CTSS that are out there are working in this state”. The answer is,.. too many to count! Because that is what the CTSS has done since the beginning. They trained all those looking to better themselves and send them to the work force.
Realistically I don’t think our Governor knows how much impact these schools have had in promoting a better economy for our state.
If she did,…. your article would not exist. No offence!
Comment by A. Perez — February 2nd, 2010 @ 12:39 pm